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8000 BCE
Agricultural Revolution
This revolution was the switch from humans being hunters and gatherers. To settling down and growing crops. -
Industrial Revolution
The invention of technology that made people manufacture things in factories such as cloth and clothing. Making things easier and faster. -
John Muir
Organized the Sierra Club and convinced the federal government to begin Yosemite National Park in 1890 and create 21 million acres of forest preserves. -
Henry David Thoreau
Wrote the book Walden, about simple living in a natural surrounding. Appreciated the environmental and social consequences of deforestation and wildlife depletion on the island. -
Homestead act
Signed into law by Abraham Lincoln. Encouraged western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. -
Yellowstone National Park Founded
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American Forestry Association Founded
Non profit conservation that is dedicated to protecting and restoring healthy forest ecosystems. -
Yosemite plus Sequoia National Park Founded
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General Revision Act
The General Revision Act of 1891 reversed previous policy initiatives. Such as the Timber Culture Act of 1873, in which land fraud was readily accessible on the behalf of wealthy individuals and corporations. -
Sierra Club Founded
The club was one of the first large-scale environmental preservation organizations in the world, and currently engages in lobbying politicians to promote green policies. -
Lacy act
1900 United States law that bans trafficking in illegal wildlife. -
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Golden Age of Conservation
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First National Wildlife Refuge Established
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US Forest Service Founded
The agency was given a unique mission: to sustain healthy, diverse, and productive forests and grasslands for present and future generations. -
Gifford Pinchot
Pinchot served as the first Chief of the United States Forest Service from 1905 until his firing in 1910 -
Aldo Leopold
Aldo Leopold was an American author, philosopher, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist. Wrote the Sand County Almanac. -
Audubon Society Founded
Protecting waterbird populations has been part of Audubon’s mission even before the official establishment of the National Audubon Society. -
Antiquities act
After a generation-long effort, on June 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law, thus establishing the first general legal protection of cultural and natural resources in the United States. -
Congress became upset because Roosevelt was waving so much forest land so they banned further withdrawals.
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US National Park Service Founded
National Park Service, a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established. -
Dustbowl
Also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. -
Civilization Conservation Corps Founded
It was a public works project intended to promote environmental conservation and to build good citizens through vigorous, disciplined outdoor labor. -
Soil Conservation Service Founded
Is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers. -
Taylor Grazing Act
United States federal law that provides for the regulation of grazing on the public lands (excluding Alaska) to improve rangeland conditions and regulate their use. -
Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act
Or the "Duck Stamp Act," as this March 16, 1934, authority is commonly called, requires each waterfowl hunter 16 years of age or older to possess a valid Federal hunting stamp. -
Fish plus Wildlife Service Founded
Is an agency of federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior which is dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. -
FIFRA
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Silent Spring published by by Rachel Carson
Documented the detrimental effects on the environment of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. -
Wilderness Act
The Act further defined wilderness as "an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions. -
Clear Air act
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Wild and Scenic Rivers Act
Meant to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations. -
Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire.
A river polluted by oil caught fire in 1969 causing $100,000 in damage. -
NEPA
A United States environmental law that promotes the enhancement of the environment and established the President's Council on Environmental Quality. -
First Earth Day
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Environmental Protection Agency established
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Endangered Species Act
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OPEC oil embargo
The embargo caused an oil crisis, or "shock", with many short- and long-term effects on global politics and the global economy.[2] It was later called the "first oil shock", followed by the 1979 oil crisis, termed the "second oil shock." -
Roland and Molina (UCI) announce that CFC's are depleting ozone layer
CFCs would deplete the ozone layer is one of many theories claiming that ozone depletion would lead to doomsday. -
RCRA
Public law that creates the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste. -
Clean Water Act
Established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into the waters of the United States. -
Surface Mining Control and Reclaimation
Primary federal law that regulates the environmental effects of coal mining in the United States. -
Love Canal, NY
Love Canal received national attention for the public health problem originating from the disposal of 22,000 barrels of toxic waste. Numerous families were displaced from their houses, which had been contaminated with chemicals and toxic waste. -
3 Mile island Nuclear accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a partial nuclear meltdown that occurred on March 28, 1979, in reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. -
Bhopal, Indian
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. -
Alaskan Lands Act
Provided varying degrees of special protection to over 157,000,000 acres of land, including national parks, national wildlife refuges, national monuments, wild and scenic rivers, recreational areas, national forests, and conservation areas. -
CERCLA
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Bhopal, Indian
The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. -
Chernobyl
The Chernobyl disaster, also referred to as the Chernobyl accident, was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 in the No.4 light water graphite moderated reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, in what was then part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. -
Montreal Protocol
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer) -
Exxon Valdez
An oil tanker that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince William Sound spilling hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil in Alaska. -
Desert Protection Act
That established the Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks and the Mojave National Preserve in the California desert. -
Energy act of 1992
United States government act. It was passed by Congress and set goals, created mandates, and amended utility laws to increase clean energy use and improve overall energy efficiency in the United States. -
Period: to
Kyoto Protocol
An international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets. -
World Population hits 6 billion
On this date, the world's human population was estimated to hit 6 billion, according to the United Nations. -
BP oil spill
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. -
COP 21
Cooperation of over 190 countries in securing many positive outcomes owes much to the patience and persistence of the COP President—Manuel Pulgar-Vidal—and the spirit of Lima as we look forward to Paris—the city of lights and the city of love for our shared future and shared environment.
